9.4.08

Like the Grand Palais (my post yesterday), the smaller, but still big, Petit Palais was built for the World’s Fair (Exposition Universelle) 1900. Also like the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais has been seriously renovated and was again open to public in 2005. The Petit Palais is today housing the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts, partly used for a permanent collection (free of charge), partly for temporary exhibitions - the one ongoing at the moment is dedicated to Goya and about 200 of his etchings and lithographs.

The entrance gate (see top picture) and hall are magnificent. Inside, you can find a semi-circular garden, encircled by ionic columns. There is also a café and you can enjoy your coffee (or whatever you prefer) in the garden when the weather permits. The permanent collection consists of paintings (artists like Rubens, Rembrandt, Courbet, Ingres, Delacroix, Pissarro, Monet, Sisley, Renoir, Gauguin, Cézanne…), medieval and 18th century furniture, manuscripts, books… Some kindergarten kids did their best to reproduce some of the art they saw. Some of these pictures can be seen on my photo-blog.

What a magnificent building.Just imagine how wonderful it would have been to go to the Exposition Universelle in 1900, to see all the newest products and inventions, and to marvel at the architecture of both the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais!I especially like your pic of the circular window, just gorgeous!

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My previous blog, PHO, was in operation for a year as from March 2007. It contains similar posts as this one, basically talking about different well known or more secrete sites in Paris. You can reach it by clicking HERE.